Raymer Prayer Letter - January 2009

January 2009

Dear Praying Friends,

We are thankful for all the faithful people who have supported us over the past years and the many who sent special gifts to help us with our move and for Christmas. We praise the Lord for His continual provision.

These past few months have been full of getting up and running here in Monterrey. It has been wonderful to see how God has led in every aspect of our move.

We are excited about the upcoming summer mission trip ministry. With the changes in our ministry and the departure of the family who was leading up the mission trip ministry, it has come back to us to organize and direct these trips. It is a thrill for us to hear of those who have traveled with us in the past that are now on the mission field. In just the past few weeks one couple who traveled with us several years back arrived to begin their missionary service in the country of Chile. We are thankful for our team members here in Monterrey that will be assisting with the mission teams this summer. We are excited that the trips are filled to capacity for this summer.

The Lord continues to open new opportunities to minister. Every time we feel we don’t have any more time, God seems to open new doors to stretch us a little more. The longer that we are here working with the Christian university and churches the more we see the importance of training future pastors and leaders. Our burden has been and continues to be for helping the pastors already in the ministry, but we are realizing that one way to help these pastors is through the training of the future pastors. I have heard of several pastors and missionaries recently that need or want to change fields of service, but do not have anyone who is trained properly to take over the ministry. The university is helping pastors in this area. Recently a missionary friend had to return to the US for medical reasons and was able to do so quickly because one of our recent graduates was there in the church as his assistant and was able to take over while the missionary was home on medical leave. Another missionary from Chile was recently able to take a much needed furlough since one of our graduates who was from that church was able to return home and fill the pastorate while the missionary was away.

Carena Update

Carena continues to grow and keep our life exciting. She hates to be “lonely” as she calls it. She is definitely a people person and always wants her friends to come over and play. It is exciting to see how she is adapting to life in Mexico and how quickly her Spanish is advancing. Recently Carena has begun violin lessons (Suzuki Method) and is very excited to learn to play. She is learning a lot about the Bible and is full of questions regarding everything that she hears. Please pray that we will have wisdom as we teach her of God’s love and gift of eternal life.

Please pray for us as God continues to open doors of ministry for our family. We are excited about the opportunities to help different churches, as well as, the chance to work with some new church plants. Please pray that God will give us wisdom on which opportunities to follow.

May the Lord bless each of you,

Russell, Debbie & Carena Raymer

Prayer Requests:

• Upcoming pastors conferences in March & May

• Summer Mission Trip Ministry

• Our involvement in different churches here in Monterrey

• Carena’s continual development spiritually & physically

• Debbie as she ministers to different ladies and girls

• Our support level to maintain and increase

• Health and strength to work

• Other helpers for this summer’s trips

Raymer November 2008 Prayer Letter

November 2008

Dear Praying Friends,

Psalm 20:7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.

The past few months have flown past for us. They have been filled with opportunities and with change.

As we finished up the summer we were able to take one of our supporting churches to Monterrey to help a church with two vacation Bible schools each day. It was exciting to see the children’s reception to hearing God’s Word both at the main church, as well as at another location that the hosting church is considering opening a mission church in the future. It was fun for us to renew friendships and make new friends with the folks traveling with us. During this same week we were able to finalize the purchase of our house in the Monterrey area. We praise the Lord for His provision of this house just 3 blocks from the Universidad Cristiana de Las Américas. We thank the group from Colorado that they had the desire not only to help with the VBS classes, but also had the desire to help us do some painting on our new home.

We anticipated finalizing the sale of our home in McAllen the same week we finalized the purchase in Monterrey, but the Lord had other plans for us. Upon returning from Monterrey, we found out that the sale of our home had fallen through that day. This had been the second contract that had fallen through, but the Lord quickly brought another buyer and about 40 days later we were able to close the sale of our home in McAllen. During this time we imported our household goods into Mexico. We praise God for providing for this move and for all those who helped us move. We ended up having to park the trailer moving our belongings at a friend’s property about 15 minutes from our new house to transfer the items to smaller vehicles because the semi could not fit in our neighborhood.

We have been busy getting our house set up, as well as, getting the new OREMUNDO office set up in Monterrey. I am thankful that God has provided a young man, Elfego Ramirez, who is studying in the theology program to come and assist in the office for two hours each day as part of his work scholarship. It is a special blessing because Elfego and his family have been close friends of ours for 16 years.

The end of September took us to Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico, where we were able to hold another one of our Intensive Courses. There was great excitement once again among those who took the course. We had 35 in attendance and they were constantly asking when we were bringing the next course. I am thankful for Matt Bixby and AJ Gibson who each taught 8 hours during these 2 ½ days. We are looking at several other locations for future courses as well as working on editing the courses that we will be offering to pastors on DVD through a new correspondence program. It was a special time as Debbie and Carena were able to travel with me on this trip.

Carena has seemed to make the move very smoothly. We enrolled her in K4 when we arrived. She is quickly learning her Spanish. It is a blessing to hear her converse with others. We knew she had a good understanding but was not speaking a lot of Spanish. Each day we hear her speaking more. She loves having so many of her friends close by and asks everyday who can come over to play. She is definitely a people person. It is hard to believe how quickly she is growing up and will turn 4 on the 28^th of this month.

Please pray for our family as we continue to make the transition here in Monterrey. We are excited about the opportunities that God has already opened for us and are praying for His direction and wisdom in new areas of ministry that we can serve. Today I submitted the forms for my visa. Please pray I will receive a new visa quickly.

Thank you for your prayers and support,

 Russell, Debbie & Carena Raymer

Raymers to Mexico - Presentation 2008

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Mexico Independence Day Celebration at Carena's School

Carena started out not sure about what was going on and really wanted to be with her Mommy, but by the end she was happily waving her country's flag (Carena and Debbie both carry dual citizenship).

House Sold!

We just wanted to update all those who have been praying for the sale of our house in McAllen that today we finalized the sale. This has been a very drawn out process as this was the third contract on the house. But we just continued to trust God who continued to remain faithful as always as we have moved to Monterrey. Thank you for your prayers!

First day of School

We arrived in Guadalupe, NL, Mexico on Thursday evening, and the following morning Carena began school (school had actually begun Monday of that week).


In front of our house ready to head off for school.


My little girl is so grown up. Sometimes I wonder what happened to my little baby.

Carena's school is a short 4 blocks from our house, so as long as it is not raining it is a nice walk to school. It is only 1 block up from where my office will be, so that makes it very handy for walking Carena to school.

Move to Monterrey

We are officially in Monterrey! Our household goods left McAllen yesterday evening and headed across the border. This morning our truck arrived here in Monterrey and a number of our friends and coworkers graciously helped up unload everything from the semi to a smaller truck, then to the house (the semi would not fit in our neighborhood). We are now very busy putting everything away.
Thank you for your prayers. Please continue to pray that our house in McAllen will sell soon. Our house is under the 3rd contract, so we pray this will go through.